Amber and Justin

How We Met

Justin and I are from Wardensville, West Virginia. Wardensville is a very small country town… A town where everyone knows everyone. We are actually 4 years apart, so we never met in high school, much less heard of each other. While he was working his way through college, I was finishing up high school. After Justin endured a bad break up, he began coming out of his shell, becoming social with a new group of friends. We ended up sharing mutual friends and started to hang out. Not long after we met, we started sneaking away from our group of friends and hanging out alone, together. As things began heating up, I got scared and wanted to cool things down.

One night Justin and I had “the talk.” I told him that I was not interested in dating because of our age difference. Justin told me that he did not have the ability to only be friends with me. He said it was all or nothing. So, I chose nothing. A few hours later, I realized what a mistake I had made. He came over to my house, where we discussed the next step. I told him that I realized we needed to give “us” a try because I felt so emotionally lost after telling him we could not be together. So, we became a public couple. Over the next few months, I lost my dad… He was the most amazing support I could have ever received. He listened to cry and yell and that support helped me realize what an amazing man I was blessed with. Christmas of 2010, he gave me a promise ring. In March 2011, we moved in together. In April 2011, I graduated high school and I decided to go away for college, he followed me. Now we’ve been together for almost 6 years.

how they asked

At the beginning of November, Justin’s mom, Tammy expressed interest in wanting to have family photos taken. She mentioned wanting to have a nice family picture to hang above her fireplace. Instantly, I thought of a girl I went to high school with, Kayla. Kayla started her own photography business and I had seen many gorgeous pictures on her Facebook page. I contacted Kayla asking if we could set up a date and time for pictures. Kayla explained that she would have to get back to me as she had a busy schedule. A few days later, Kayla messaged me explaining that December 13 was her only available day. I consulted Tammy and we agreed that day would work. The night before the pictures were scheduled, I messaged Kayla to confirm and the photos were still good to go.

On December 13, we all met at the Capon Springs Resort in Capon Springs, West Virginia for family photos. Towards the end of the shoot, Kayla positioned Justin and I in front of his family, explaining that she wanted to get pictures of each couple with the whole family in the background. After a few “test shots” I turned my head around to ask Tammy (Justin’s mom) a question. That’s when Justin grabbed my arm, I turned around to face him and he was down on one knee with a beautiful diamond ring in his hand. He could barely speak and I put on my ugly crying face not even answering the most important question of all. I think we both were so nervous, he even put it on the wrong finger, ha! It was the most unexpected and surprisingly, sweet proposal I could have ever imagined. The best part of all, I have beautiful pictures to treasure!